Posted on 01/01/2002 12:38:50 PM PST by grundle
http://www.heartland.org/education/oct99/trouble.htm
Average per-pupil spending in U.S. public schools rose 212 percent from 1960 to 1995 in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars.
In 1960, for every U.S. public school teacher there were approximately 26 students enrolled in the schools. In 1995, there were 17.7.
The average salary of U.S. public school teachers rose 45 percent in real dollars from 1960 to 1995.
In Florida, it takes six times as many people to administer a federal education dollar as a state dollar: 297 state employees are responsible for $1 billion in federal funds, while 374 employees oversee $7 billion in state funds.
In Arizona, 45 percent of the staff of the state education department are responsible for managing federal programs that account for 6 percent of the state's education spending.
After spending $118 billion since 1965 on Title I, the federal government's largest K-12 program, evaluations conclude that the "program has been unable to lift [the] academic level of poor students."
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http://i2i.org/SuptDocs/OpEdArcv/Gorman/00Feb15.increased%20 school%20spending.htm
The Roman Catholic church has run schools in the poorest parts of American cities for over 100 years. In 1990, the RAND Corporation, hardly a statistically naïve or purposefully deceptive group, studied New York City high schools. It found that Catholic high schools drawing from the same neighborhoods as New York Citys "zoned" high schools produced higher graduation rates and better test scores at a cost of about $3,500 per student. The Citys cost was $6,700 per student.
In 1996-97, Washington, D.C., had the largest per-pupil expenditures and smallest teacher student ratios in the nation at $9,123 and 14 to 1 respectively. Despite this, 12% of D.C. public classrooms did not have textbooks at the beginning of the 1996-97 school year. When the city pumped $63 million into roof repairs in the early 1990s, the system spent only 7% of the money on roofs.
At an actual cost per student of only $2,700, Washington, D.C., Catholic schools provided books, a safe environment, and far better levels of academic achievement. The data also show that the most disadvantaged children benefit the most from Catholic school attendance.
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http://www.justfacts.com/education_2.html
Public schools in Washington, D.C. cost $8,920 per student in the 94-95 school year (among the highest in the U.S.) and ranked near the bottom on almost every level of performance. Upon entering the D.C. school system, students are shown to be average.
As of 1996, there were 88 private schools in the D.C. area that cost $4,000 per year or less.
As of 1998, public school teachers make 52% more than private school teachers.
46% of private school budgets go to teacher pay. If public schools paid teachers that same percentage, the average public school teacher's annual salary would jump from $38,509 to $54,421.
Over 50% of employees added to public school payrolls between 1959 and 1998 are not teachers.
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http://www.justfacts.com/education_1.html
A study done in 1999 compared the math scores of black public school and black Catholic school students in Washington, DC. They included the education of child's mother, the child's family status (one or two parents in the home), the availability of reading materials in the child's home, and the median income of the neighborhood in which the child lived. The study used data from 1996.
* The results of the study are:
- The average black eighth-grade student who attends Catholic school has math scores better than 72% of comparable students in public schools.
- The effect of attending a Catholic school has a greater positive effect on mathematics achievement than the effect of reducing the student to teacher ration from 25:1 to 15:1.
- The effect of attending a Catholic school has a greater positive effect on mathematics achievement than the effect of a student's mother having some college education.
- The effect of attending a Catholic school has a greater positive effect on mathematics achievement than the effect of living in a two-parent family.
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http://www.justfacts.com/education_1.html
In Cleveland, 39.7% of public school teachers have sent or are sending at least one of their own children to private school. In Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, the percentages are 44.6%, 36.3%, and 35.9% respectively. Nationally, 14.1% of all children attend private schools.
The NEA membership was the 4th highest contributor to federal candidates and parties in 95-96 election cycle. They contributed $3,283,141 (96% to Democrats, 4% to Republicans).
The AFT membership was the 16th highest contributor to federal candidates and parties in 95-96 election cycle. They contributed $2,423,088 (99% to Democrats, 1% to Republicans).
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Marva Collins was a public school teacher in Chicago. She taught low income black students. The government had said that her students were "learning disabled" and "unteachable."
Collins disagreed. She knew that the kids could learn. She had some great ideas on how to teach them. But the government wouldn't let her do it.
So she started her own private school. The level of funding was very low. She took all these low income black kids whom the government had declared "learning disabled" and "unteachable." And with a very low level of funding, she taught them reading, math, science, history, philosophy, etc. On standardized tests, the kids scored well above the national average.
Today, the Collins teaching method is used in schools all over the country.
Here's a quote from an article about one of them:
http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/19990606kelly7.asp
A year ago April, I visited a kindergarten class in the basement of a black church in Dayton, Ohio. None of the parents had ever been to college. Still, all 13 kids could read. (Two girls read me one of Aesop's fables, and explained -- correctly -- its meaning.) In addition, each of the kids could pick out any of the 50 states on a map, and they knew all the state capitals -- even though most had never been farther than Cincinnati.
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[This next one is in my own words, based on various reports that I have come accross.]
The public school system in Kansas City, Missouri, was doing a terrible job of educating its students. So the people in charge decided that they needed to spend more money. The school district increased its spending so much that it was spending more money, per student, than any other major school district in the country. They gave big raises to all the teachers. They built new schools, and renovated old ones. They built libraries, gymnasiums, and swimming pools. They spent money on everything that the teachers unions and bureaucrats said was necessary to improve education. They spared no expense.
And more than a decade after all of these reforms were implemented, there was no improvement in student performance.
And all you have to do to increase airport security is to Federalize the screeners and pay them double their previous wage, without increasing job standards.
We need to stop throwing money at them, and hold them accountable for what they're wasting now.
Funny how vouchers and tax credits to grant "a parent's fundamental right to choose" their children's school, they pick a parochial or private school and they produce superior students every time at a lower cost.
I think the liberal public schools need more money like Congressmen, pro athletes and corporations need farm subsidies. More money keeps them voting to keep in power those who in turn keep them in power. That is, "the power to indoctrinate, not educate", after all they have new up and coming liberals to produce by way of brainwashing thir students of all redeeming intellectual and moral value.
Cut the payment for failures. Increase the payment for successes.
Start cutting the money that goes from the teachers' unions to the democrat party by illegal contributions from the National Education Association.
FROM: a former high school teacher
The state of Missouri spends more than $6,000/student/year.
Therefore: for a typical class of twenty students that is $120,000.
You pay on average $35,000/teacher.
What happened to the other $85,000?
He was speechless and mumbled something about getting back to me on that.
As many have pointed out here, spending increases are virtually useless and would do little to improve classrooms in any region. (Heck, parts of the third world keeps pace with many American classrooms without electricity, equipment, or textbooks.) While I'd love to have a pay increase or nicer equipment, it would do little to improve my students' performance or comprehension. If you want real improvements in public education, try removing the 'compulsory' nature of the beast (10th plank of the Communist Manifesto), de-fanging the NEA dragon and introducing competition into the pay scale, and reversing the media/urban trend towards popular disrespect for academic accomplishment, re-introducing strong parental support for teachers' discipline of students, closing the federal Dept of Education, and eliminating social promotion... for starters. (Man, we have strayed far, far away from a viable system!)
I've collected pottery and mission-style stuff for years, and know that 60-70 years ago, schools actually taught children skills they could use to make a living. The NEA would sincerely love everyone to believe that a college education is necessary in today's world. I beg to differ. Thirty years ago, a college education meant something. Now, the education establishment has 'created' programs in all kinds of crap that used to be considered hobbies. They want to take $30,000 and hand out degrees in areas of 'expertise' that won't get a person a job for $10 an hour.
Different kids have different assets...if we had more choices as far as choosing a vocation in high school, that would be a good use of education dollars.
(But you can add lunch money, book-and-paper fees, fund-raisers, and community grants as some extra sources of income.)
(I looked into possibly starting a small community school, and quickly learned that the credits don't pile up nearly as quickly as the debits... but it was a nice thought.)
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